Light Black #20 [Starfall]

[thisbluespirit]

Name: is it love or are you just fooling around?
Story: Starfall
Colors: Light Black #20 (heal)
Supplies and Styles: Resin (also for no_true_pair prompt "September Twenty-One - Leion & Viyony "What did you say?") + Pastels (for lyricaltitles square "lyric with love or hate" - Kool Savas - Is It Love?) + Silhouette
Word Count: 995
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Notes: 1313, Kalna, nr. Portcallan; Leion Valerno, Viyony Eseray. Continues on from the last. Also very rough, to meet the no_true_pair deadline.
Summary: The morning after.

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"How are you feeling this morning?" Viyony perched beside Leion on the bench at the farthest end of the inn's garden, facing the sea.

Leion turned his head slowly. "How on earth -? What are you doing here?"

"You saw me last night," said Viyony. She tilted her head, setting the pot of ointment she'd brought with her aside on the bench, distracted. "You were a bit feverish, but I didn't realise you were that bad."

He gave a lazy half-smile. "Ah. I thought that was a dream."

"Dream?"

Leion's good humour faded. He ignored the question. "How are you here?"

"Father seemed to think you knew," she said. "He left me a letter with Imai Jemuey, and he said he'd told you. He asked me to bring the ointment for you—he must have sent off the messenger bird straight away. You can't really have thought I was a dream!"

"Dream, hallucination, nightmare, it didn't seem to matter much," said Leion. "Thank you, then." He wrinkled his brow. "Wait—what did you say?"

"You can't really have thought I was a dream," she repeated. "Leion, you spoke to me."

"Oh, I babble deliriously regardless of what state I'm in," he said. "No, what do you mean—messenger bird?"

Viyony stared out at the horizon. Gulls circled above the shore and cried out as if in reply. "I don't know any other ways to say that if you didn't understand it the first time."

"Look, I know you Eserays are different, but nobody's used Hylian messenger birds since the last century!"

Viyony drew in a weary breath. It was not the first time she'd had to explain this. "They do! It's quite common in Eisterland and in the Eister Ranges. It's one of the best ways to send messages across mountainous territory. It is rarer in Emoyra, but there are still birdmasters in each district capital. Father would have hired one before you set out."

"I had no idea," said Leion. "And here was me thinking I knew every last corner of Portcallan. Was he planning to poison me?"

She gave him a close look. "No! Which is all I can say for him right now. I don't see why you had to go with him in the first place, but it's above and beyond the barrier for him to do this to you!"

Leion relaxed into a laugh. "It was my fault, I promise. All of it—I asked to come—I didn't listen to his warnings—I told him to leave me behind, and he made certain I was well looked after before he went."

"Even so! It's an outrageous thing to do."

Leion leant towards her on the bench. "My, my. I almost could think you care. Maybe I'm still delirious."

"You are feeling better, I see. I'm glad. Even if I think that's a bit too forgiving of you."

"Look, what would have been the point of him hanging around here? I'm fine—let's just move on. Why were you so bothered about me coming? Unless you expected this - in which case, you could have warned me!"

Viyony closed her eyes. "No, no. Of course not. It's only—I think Mother may have been getting some foolish ideas—from Aunt Diyela's letters, not mine!"

"But of course not yours." Leion raised an eyebrow.

A small laugh escaped her. "Stop it. The point is, Father's going to Lialia after this. I don't want him saying anything unwise to Imoren. It's far too important."

"Which he knows, I'm sure." Leion sobered. He stretched out a hand towards her, but let it lie on the bench between them. "Viyony. I said nothing to him about you—not like that." He raised his head, a new sharpness in his tone. "Why would I?"

Viyony stared down at the glazed pot in her hands, smooth and cool against her fingers. She straightened herself. "I worry too much," she said, and held out the pot to him. "I only came to give you this. It's the ointment Father ordered for you."

"He's a very considerate poisoner," said Leion, taking it. He balanced it in his palm. "That's what you were doing last night. I couldn't quite make sense of any of it at the time." He pocketed the jar in a casual manner that made Viyony wish she'd kept hold of it. "I thought you were another dream."

Viyony rose. She paused there, a salty breeze catching her hair, still hanging loose around her face. She brushed it back. "I'm not a dream."

"No. Too nice for those dreams."

"At least yours are just dreams," said Viyony. "And, see, that's what I mean. Don't compliment me, not when Father's around."

Leion's face creased and he folded over in helpless laughter.

"I know you don't mean any of it, of course. But Father doesn't and I'm not sure what nonsense Mother and Aunt Diyela might have been -" Viyony gave up, as Leion only continued laughing. She heaved a sigh. "Just don't tire yourself out, and don't forget to put some more of that on your hands in an hour or so."

He choked back further amusement. "If you're worried about that sort of thing, stop fussing and leave me in peace." He lifted his head, then, and gazed over her shoulder, squinting. "Isn't that your father, coming up the cliff path?"

Viyony swung around.

"Did you bring him a replacement bird?" asked Leion. "Just out of interest. I think I may write a book, or an article: My Observations On The Habits of Wild North Easterners."

"Do," said Viyony. Despite herself, her mouth twitched, and she had to smother a sudden giggle. "I did. I came all the way over here in the coach with my bag, your medicine, and a basket with a messenger bird in it."

"You see," Leion said, "I'm right: you're a dream. I'm probably not even awake yet."